I'm probably going to store my new ( to me ) Tiger at Sail Newport. They require beachcats to be stored with mast stepped, for spacial concerns. This actually appeals to me, as I've heard rigging the boat every time you sail can be time consuming. Ifthe hulls and tramp are well covered and the rig is tensioned to avoid mast floppery, are there any downsides? I know people aren't wild about storing comptip boats mast up due to UV damage on the comptip but the Tiger is all aluminum.

What say you all?

Thanks in advance,

Blair

_________________Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...

Get an extra spin halyard. Take your good one down and put the old one up. just tape the end together and run it up or the UV and wind will destroy your halyard. It will also break just when you put the spin up in a race if you don't.

Any exposed lines will degrade faster. Main sheet , main halyard, ect.

I have mine stored with mast up most of the time. Let's me sail as much as I want. I do not worry too much about the spinnaker halyard and I know that I will need to replace it yearly. I am able to make my own splices and I only replace the spectra/vectran/dyneema line. The other half, usually swiftcord, lasts longer. the 30 or so feet of the thin line will only cost you about $30 at the most per year.

Food for thought: In addition to mast up storage, depending on what your free time is worth, you might consider leaving your jib furled, your main rolled on the tramp under the boat cover and the spi in the snuffer. These things will wear faster, but if you sail 2x per week, and you save 25 min of setup each time (+ 25 tear down) that is over an hour a week of extra sailing time. Over a year that is 70 hours of extra sailing. I am time constrained - I own a business and have four kids; my personal economy, and my awareness of the finite nature of my free time is such that replacing the jib and spi every two years is quite a bargain.

Thanks for the advice dan, I do leave the spi in the snuffer but drop the rest of the sails. All my sails are the original 2002 ones, so I'm not too concerned about wear and tear, especially while I'm learning to sail the Big boat!

_________________Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...

Sun is your enemy, make sure spinnaker is completely inside the snuffer and preferably cover it so no water can enter. If tack is faded from the sun it will blow out usually at the worst possible time.

I also remove the tack line, replace spin uphaul with old line. Rigging is very quick. Yearly I replace the spin pulley line at top of mast. Cheap insurance.

If you can prevent water from entering, remove port covers to allow hulls to breathe.